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Congressman balks at calling players

Congressman: No need for players to testify

WASHINGTON -- A member of a congressional panel investigating performance-enhancing drugs in baseball believes there's little to be gained by having players testify at next month's hearings.

"If we went back to every player, we would have to do research every morning, noon and night," Rep. Christopher Shays told The Associated Press on Thursday. "There's no way in my judgment we're going to be able to focus on the past. Only a real court can do that."

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has scheduled a Jan. 15 hearing featuring former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, author of the recent report linking more than 80 baseball players, including seven MVPs and 31 All-Stars, to steroids and other performance enhancers. Commissioner Bud Selig and players union leader Donald Fehr are to attend.

Rep. Stephen Lynch, who serves on the panel, said no players were expected to appear then. The Massachusetts Democrat said the committee was not ruling out the possibility of asking players to testify in the future if a "compelling reason" were to emerge.

"We haven't closed that door," he said.

Shays wants to focus on finding the best way to rid baseball of banned drugs. The Connecticut Republican said the sport's leadership deserves the brunt of the blame.

"Part of it is that Major League Baseball has been incredibly passive on this issue to the point of condoning it," he said. "And so, who do I think is mostly at fault? The Commissioner, frankly, for tolerating it and for not having the guts to step up and say we need changes and if you don't agree with me, then find someone else to run this corrupt process."

Mitchell has said Congress should give Major League Baseball a chance to implement his recommendations before taking independent action.

Rep. Bobby Rush, chairman of the subcommittee on commerce, trade and consumer protection, also has scheduled a hearing for Jan. 23. Mitchell and other MLB members are expected to appear.

"We need to take a good, hard, close look at this," Lynch said in a separate telephone interview with AP on Thursday.

Beyond the names included in Mitchell's report, Lynch said "many, many more" players were suspected of using banned drugs.

"We might poke at some of the areas where we thought there might be stronger evidence of wider use among players and try to explore their thoughts on that," Lynch said.

When the Government Reform panel held hearings in March 2005, five players were compelled by subpoena to tell the committee whether they had used steroids.

Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro were questioned during more than 11 hours of proceedings. McGwire previously denied using steroids but under oath repeatedly declined to respond directly. Sosa and Palmeiro said they hadn't. Palmeiro later was suspended by baseball for testing positive for steroids.

At the time, Selig said the extent of steroids in baseball had been blown out of proportion.